


Meet Me In Between

by plasticflowers



Category: The Front Bottoms
Genre: Drinking, First Kiss, Love Confessions, M/M, but like between them not first kiss ya know, i still don't know how to tag, just sappy and romantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-27
Updated: 2016-01-27
Packaged: 2018-05-16 15:29:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5830909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plasticflowers/pseuds/plasticflowers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything feels calm and good and somewhere in the back of Brian’s mind he tells himself he can write poems about this night, just about being with Mat and talking about nothing and being drunk and young and in love, even if it was with someone who didn’t love him back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meet Me In Between

**Author's Note:**

> written for this prompt on tumblr: For the sellachich promt thing: Brian and Mat are drinking one night and they decide to take a walk to the park at like 2 in the morning and they hold hands and the stars are out and it's the perfect moment for drunk Brian to confess his feelings

It was somewhere between two and four in the morning and Brian was between his fourth or maybe seventh drink. Everything in the party was a little blurry, it felt like the whole world had soft edges. Brian sees Mat from across the room. His heart still skips a beat and all of a sudden he’s sixteen instead of twenty-three and he’s writing lyrics for Mat in notebooks and sneaking glances at him at dinners and getting sweaty palms every time he so much as hears Mat’s name. Yeah, he had it pretty bad. (Still does.) It was probably just the alcohol talking though. (It wasn’t.) Although to be fair, it was hard getting over someone when they were your best friend and you also live with them.

Mat’s eyes find Brian’s and he’s smiling and moving across the room towards Brian, weaving in between sweaty bodies.

“Hey,” Mat says, yelling a little to be heard above the music. “Do you wanna get out of here?”

Brian nods and follows Mat back towards the exit.

“Where do you want to go?” Mat calls over his shoulder.

“I don’t care.” _As long as it’s with you._

•

They walk on for a while until they make it to a park near their apartment. They walk around the flowers and trees and fountains that had stopped running for the night. When they talk, their voices are too loud in the early morning air. Everything feels calm and good and somewhere in the back of Brian’s mind he tells himself he can write poems about this night, just about being with Mat and talking about nothing and being drunk and young and in love, even if it was with someone who didn’t love him back.

They sat on a bench near the middle of the park. They were surrounded by trees whose shadows cast by the light of streetlamps criss-crossed across the sidewalk. Mat was sitting really close to Brian on the bench and he was haloed in soft light from the streetlights and he looked so beautiful and-

“I think I’m in love with you,” Brian blurts out.

Mat blinks. “Dude, what the fuck?”

Brian’s brain is backpedalling frantically, trying to find a way out of this mess. He could explain, he could say he was just kidding, but in his alcohol-soaked haze all he could manage was “uhhhhhhh”.

Mat’s frowning at him and he even looks slightly concerned, his eyebrows are furrowed together and _he looks adorable,_ Brian thinks. He shakes the thought out of his head quickly.

“Sorry! Sorry! That was…” Brian trails off for a moment, and laughs awkwardly, “that was weird.”

Brian moves to get up, to walk away, and hopes that they’d laugh about this in the morning when their headaches and nausea makes them vow never to drink again when Mat catches Brian’s wrist with his hand. Brian freezes.

“Wait, just stop for a second. Were you serious?” Mat’s voice is gentle but unsure.

Brian doesn’t look at him. He doesn’t want to see the way Mat must be looking at him. With judgement or the way people usually looked at him when they found out about how he felt. That look that says _really? You’re in love with your best friend? That’s kinda pathetic, dude._

Brian swallows nervously. “Um, yeah, I was totally serious. I’ve kind of...felt this way for a while.”

“How long is a while?” Mat asks.

“Oh you know,” Brian says, turning to face Mat, while his voice is light and joking, his heart pounds in his chest, “Only since high school.”

There’s a long beat of silence. “Brian-” Mat starts.

“Don’t worry about it,” Brian interrupts, he studies his hands that are folded in his lap for a while, the remaining buzz from the alcohol is almost gone, replaced by a sick feeling in his stomach. The shadows looked different now, harsh and dark and the world was back to it’s sharp edges.

“No, Brian, that’s not-”

“No, no, it’s ok I totally get it.”

“Brian, listen-”

“I mean, I’ve always kind of expected you to react this way. That’s probably why I never really thought I’d tell you at least not until I stopped being in love with you, you know?”

“No, just-”

“So maybe we could even look back and say ‘Hey, remember that time I was in love with you?’ ‘Yeah that was hilarious’. I thought it could’ve happened like that and-”

“Brian!” Mat’s voice finally snaps Brian out of his rambling. “Shut up.”

He's leaning forward and pressing his lips against Brian's and it feels warm and safe, like coming home. It's slow and long and has a lingering taste of beer but Brian doesn't care. He can't tell if he can't breathe because of the kiss or because he can't believe this is real. When Mat pulls away gently, it takes a second for Brian’s eyes to flutter open again. “Wow.”

Mat laughs. “Yeah.”

“Wait, how long have _you_ felt that way about me?” Brian asks.

Mat shrugs. “Since you left for college, I’d say.”

He says it casually, like it isn’t what Brian had been dying to hear for years, but the smile on his face shows that he’s just as happy as Brian.

“We’re kind of clueless aren’t we?”

“Of course,” Mat says. He takes Brian’s hand in his and stands up. “Come on, let’s go home.”

They don’t let go the whole way back.

**Author's Note:**

> the ending got kinda bad but i'm writing this late so sorry  
> thank you to that anon who gave me this prompt and thank you so much for reading!!


End file.
